Monday, September 9, 2013

'Trapattoni has been on thin ice since, not just the Euro 2012
tournament, but the qualification campaign that preceeded it'

There’s a
moment in Hunter Davies’ seminal 1972 classic ‘The Glory Game’ when Spurs are
in France for a UEFA Cup clash with Nantes. The game ends scoreless and the
visitors troop off the pitch frustrated at full-time. They were better than
this. A sullen Martin Chivers, who was well-marshalled, mutters to himself as
he slumps to his seat in the dressing-room. He’s venting. He knows both he and
his team didn’t perform. ‘A poor team’, a poor team’. Bill Nicholson
mis-interprets what’s been said. The boss starts to tremble a little. He stares
straight into the Big Fellow’s eyes. ‘You mean we had some poor players’.
Chivers’ mood changes. ‘What do you mean?’ He was animated now. ‘What do you
know about it? You never praise us when we do well. Never. You never do. What
do you know about it? You weren’t out there. You didn’t have to do it. It’s
easy to say we didn’t do well, bloody easy’.

Two weeks ago,
Giovanni Trapattoni gave an interview to Italian national broadcaster RAI.
Looking back on his managerial career, he gushed that he’d had ‘five beautiful
girls’ in Milan, Inter, Juventus, Bayern and Benfica. When asked if Ireland was
a beautiful girl, he replied, ‘She is nice. She needs small surgery, a
retouch’. A delicious line, one he couldn’t resist. The playful smile. The
twinkle in the eye. Everyone knew the situation. Everyone was in on the joke.
Ireland was the joke.

The oft-used
excuse does carry some weight. During Steve Staunton’s reign as Ireland boss –
the lowest ebb in recent memory – the players were better. Even on that fateful night in Nicosia
just over six years ago, the Irish back-four included one Champions League
winner, one soon-to-be Champions League winner and the then club-captain of
Manchester City. But, it’s worth pointing out that when the Trapattoni era
began in Mainz with a World Cup qualifier against Georgia in September 2008,
those three players also started. Two of those players remain critical members
of the current squad. And as much as Trapattoni feels this Irish team are a
limited group, he has had ample opportunity to refresh, to ‘retouch’. He’s
ignored the numbers, the data, the forward-thinking. And through his stubborn
resiliance, he’s lost a valuable buffer.

Over the last
three full seasons, Marc Wilson has started 84 Premier League games yet he’s
still to make a competitive start for his country. Instead, Stephen Ward
cemented a starting place in Trapattoni’s team in the same season that his
Wolves side were relegated. He featured in a defence that leaked the second highest
amount of goals in any Premier League season.

Against Germany,
Darren O’Dea partnered John O’Shea in the centre of defence. The 25 year-old
moved to Major League Soccer in August where he plays for the worst team in the
league – Toronto FC. He’s featured in 10 games for them so far – losing 8. In
fact, he’s still to win a game in TFC colours. In fact, outside of the victory
in Kazakhstan, you have to go back to April to find the last time O’Dea
featured in a competitive victory. Meanwhile, former England Under-18 captain
Ciaran Clark, who has steadily impressed for Aston Villa in a multitude of
different positions (under a multitude of different managers) was only sitting
on the Irish bench last weekend because of Sean St. Ledger’s withdrawal. Otherwise,
just like the trip to Kazakhstan, he would’ve been left out.

Plenty of other
examples abound – Gibson, Coleman, Hoolahan, McClean, Pilkington. Ultimately
however, just like the seeds of Mick McCarthy’s eventual exit were sewn in
Saipan, Trapattoni has been on thin ice since, not just the Euro 2012
tournament, but the qualification campaign that preceeded it. Unconvincing
against the minnows, embarrassed by the Russians, a sterile system being
adhered to by disinterested and bored players, luck came in the form of a
play-off meeting with Estonia. Suddenly, the growing discontent with the style
of play, the approach to games, the lack of exciting and fresh faces was gone.
As Euro 2012 got closer, the blind optimism, the giddiness took control. That
optimism was washed away five minutes into the second half of the first group
game. But according to Trap, ‘fear’ is what cost them in the end.

The fear has been
perpetuated from the top down. Through the snide comments, the relentless focus
on the players’ inability to do things right, Trapattoni’s belief that this
group will never be good enough, the basic strategy/formation/tactics – it has
all fed into the current malaise sweeping across the camp. Following Saturday’s
humiliation, there was no apology from the Italian. There was a shrug of the
shoulders, an acceptance of sorts. There was nothing to be ashamed about. Trap
told reporters after the game, ‘Realistically, we were never going to compete
with Germany for first place in the group’. He had prepared for a defeat and as
a result, the players were already beaten when they stepped onto that pitch,
whether they liked it or not.

In-game
management decisions were lazy. Before his first goal, Marco Reus had already
been roaming, cutting into central areas and popping up as a spare man. There
was no subtle change, no message to the Irish midfield and centre-backs about
the threat. No urgency, no energy. Slow, disinterested. Though it mattered
little because, well, we were going to lose anyway, weren’t we?

Upon the
inspection of the damage, there wasn’t anything to worry about, according to
Trap– just a few scratches on the
surface, nothing serious. There wasn’t even the faintest pang of anger or
frustration. That came only when quizzed on whether he’ll still have a job by
the end of the week. When his performance is brought into question, when he’s told he hasn’t been good enough, he
snaps.

October seems to
be a sorry time for Irish football, certainly in recent years. In 2009, the
team led Italy 2-1 at Croke Park in their penultimate World Cup qualifier. An
87th-minute header from Sean St. Ledger had seemingly given the team not just a
famous victory but possible automatic qualification for South Africa. Three
minutes later, Alberto Gilardino equalised and Ireland were in the play-offs. A
furious Trapattoni bounded down the tunnel, screaming and swearing in his
native language. Yet, according to Liam Lawrence, he never showed any anger in
the dressing room. Afterwards, he spoke of players being nervous, not being
experienced enough with winding down the clock. If it was a boxing match, he
said, Italy would’ve won on points.

So, there has
always been a dis-connect. The World Cup qualification campaign was different
however – there was a hunger, a passion. There were new faces. There was an
iconic football man in charge whose approach made sense. He spoke of ‘poetry
and novels’ (far cry from Stan) and the importance of knowing the difference
between them. Trapattoni’s Irish team wasn’t interesed in aesthetics. They were
interested in results. This was a new Ireland. Determined, professional,
borderline boring. With the team’s best players at their peak, the strategy
worked a treat and, in many ways, elimination in the play-offs was undeserved.

There needed to
be freshening up but some call-ups, particularly in light of what’s been
happening recently, lacked any sort of method. Greg Cunningham had made three
substitute appearances for Manchester City but was in the squad. Jonathan
Walters meanwhile, hadn’t even received a call-up to the senior team before
November 2010, despite impressing consistently for Ipswich over the previous
three seasons.

Trapattoni has
found it far too easy to blame the quality of the Irish players when his
selection policy is a flawed one. If there is a lack of natural talent, surely
players who are consistently proving their worth at club level need to be
handed opportunities in an Irish jersey? James McClean hasn’t made a
competitive start for his country, despite illuminating the Premier League last
term and subsequently being voted Sunderland’s Young Player of the Year. He had
been at the club for nine months. Robbie Brady, who has been handed a start
against the Faroes, has played five competitive minutes for Manchester United.
With Shane Long cutting a disconsolate figure on the bench, with Darron Gibson
fed up and in self-imposed exile, with Ciaran Clark admitting he doesn’t know
how to get back in contention, the atmosphere is toxic.

All of the
players mentioned above need to feature prominently for Ireland. They are the
future. They are also the present. Unfortunately, Trapattoni is the past.

Spurs did
ultimately do quite well come season’s end, of course, beating Wolves in the
UEFA Cup final to become the first British team to win two European
competitions. But even still, Nicholson was reluctant to indulge his players in
hearty congratulations. ‘We still have problems. For such experienced players,
a lot of them are not consistent. I can’t sit and watch them in comfort, not
the way I’ve done with other teams I’ve had.’

Two years
later, Nicholson stepped down as Spurs manager. He had difficulty in relating
to the changes within the game. He had difficulty, perhaps, in having reached
the peak many years before. He had difficulty, perhaps, in adapting to
something new when he’d already achieved so much with a tried and tested
method.

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About Me

Eoin has over seven years experience working at the highest level of sports broadcasting in both Europe and North America.
In the USA and Canada, he's best-known as a former host of Fox Soccer's nightly studio show Fox Soccer Report while he spent three years with Ireland's national broadcaster RTE.
He's covered world soccer in-depth since starting out as a TV sport researcher and has worked on a multitude of tournaments including FIFA World Cups and UEFA Champions Leagues.
The very first game he attended was Cork City's pre-season friendly against Celtic in July 1994.
City lost 3-2.